My diigo daily 01/23/2009

“We have a very valuable position in hardware, particularly at the high end which allows us to get much of the profit in the industry that doesn’t go to Intel and Microsoft. Our high ground position in servers is where we have IBM unique technology. Certain parts of the portfolio that are not as efficiency oriented as System Z and Power are taking a hit right now. And Storage is in a bit of a transition. But if you look at our position in analytics and storage management software there’s a lot to work with in terms of margin.”

Toyota (TM) has finally surpassed General Motors (GM) as the world’s biggest carmaker. The global sales battle has been neck-and-neck for a couple of years. But Toyota ended GM’s 77-year grip on the crown in 2008, according to numbers that came out on Jan. 21, and the Japanese juggernaut did it with authority, selling 8.9 million cars to GM’s 8.35 million. The margin of victory is two auto factories’ worth of production.

But GM began the insidious process of creating its own demise long before then. The company’s U.S. market share peaked in 1962 at 52%. It has been downhill ever since.